The use of internal partitions within a masonry structure for use in subdividing the available space is common in office construction and the like, for example to create a number of smaller offices or smaller spaces with specific uses, etc.
Such internal partition walls can have a composite structure to allow them to be maintained in place where desired as soon as the masonry of the building is completed and, of course, should be designed to allow rapid setup and facilitate changing the internal space division.
Walls of this type may be designed to present very specific characteristics. For example, they should be able to provide efficient sound insulation and to act as shields against the incursion of dust to a particular space. They should be able to accommodate doors and transparent elements forming windows and should be constructed to be able to support shelves, cabinets, or the like which may be suspended or attached to such walls.
It is also important that the particular wall be fire-resistant or fire-retardant, i.e. capable of maintaining the structural integrity of the wall to separate a space containing a flame or fire from a space which may be protected for a certain period of time against the penetration through the wall by the fire or the transmission of fire through the wall to the protected space. The wall should also shield the protected space from the incursion of smoke at least for a limited time. This, of course, is intended to safeguard the occupants of the protected space and give the occupants an opportunity to be rescued or to save themselves.
There are, of course, standards which may also have to be met with respect to such walls and a variety of desiderata which establish other requirements for them. Already mentioned is the importance of acoustic insulation so that the spaces separated by the partition wall can in fact be private and, in the case where noise of a dangerous level is generated in one of the spaces, the other space must be protected thereagainst.
It is also advantageous to enable the partition wall to act as a moisture barrier, to provide the partition wall so that it affords protection against radiation, to have the partition wall resist mechanical perforation or penetration of the wall structure, etc.
Partition walls have been proposed heretofore in which the carrying elements of the panels are composed of light alloys, for example, aluminum or its alloys. These light alloys fail even when very high temperatures are not reached so that partitions composed of such materials, when subjected to fire, collapse early in the development of this dangerous condition. In most instances, there is no insulation providing protection against fire and smoke.
It has been recognized that such partitions are not very effective in such fire conditions and thus there have also been proposed steel structures which are not aesthetic and do not lend themselves to assembly in various partitions so that partitioning made from such materials is not versatile. It has also been suggested that, apart from meeting aesthetic requirements, the partition wall must be easily and rapidly assembled with the least amount of equipment and manpower, and must be adjustable to the dimensions of the space which must be subdivided.
These requirements are also not satisfactorily met by prior art partition walls.